Thematic supervision of the Provincial People's Council pointed out shortcomings and problems in the fields of minerals and land.

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council chaired the meeting. Comrade Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of Departments and branches including: Provincial Police, Customs Department, Tax Department, Management Board of Southeast Economic Zone and districts of Quy Hop, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc attended the meeting.

There is still a situation of tax loss in business and mineral exploitation activities.

Over time,Provincial People's Councilimplementing Plan No. 190/KH-DGS dated September 5, 2022 to monitor "State management of minerals in Nghe An province", Plan No. 195/KH-DGS dated September 12, 2022 to monitor "On the implementation of Resolutions of the Provincial People's Council on land recovery and change of land use purposes according to the provisions of the Land Law to implement works and projects in Nghe An province in the period 2016 - 2021".

Overview of the working session of the two Thematic Supervision Delegations of the Provincial People's Council with the Provincial People's Committee. Photo: Nhat Lan

Two monitoring delegations of the Provincial People's Council conducted field surveys of a number of construction and project enterprises; worked directly with the People's Committees of Nghi Loc, Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Quy Hop, Quynh Luu, Thanh Chuong districts and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Provincial Tax Department; and conducted monitoring through reports to the People's Committees of Vinh city, Hoang Mai town, and the districts of Hung Nguyen, Dien Chau, Tan Ky, Nam Dan, and Nghi Loc.

On behalf of the two Thematic Supervision Delegations, Comrade Cao Tien Trung - Head of the Economic - Budget Committee of the Provincial People's Council presented a draft report on the results of the supervision activities. In particular, it focused on information on existing problems and limitations so that delegates attending the working session could focus on discussing and dissecting to clarify further.

Comrade Cao Tien Trung - Head of the Economic - Budget Committee of the Provincial People's Council presented the draft results of thematic supervision. Photo: Nhat Lan

Regarding the results achieved in state management of minerals, the monitoring results show that the Party's guidelines, policies and laws of the State on state management of minerals have been actively propagated and disseminated by the Provincial People's Committee, departments, branches and district authorities in many forms. Mineral activities are managed and implemented according to approved planning; licensing and settlement of related administrative procedures are carried out in accordance with the process, creating conditions for organizations to participate in investment in mineral exploration and exploitation. Mineral enterprises basically fulfill their financial obligations according to regulations, budget revenues from mineral exploitation activities increase every year, making an important contribution to the implementation of the socio-economic development goals of the province.

The Provincial People's Committee has also had preferential policies, encouraging enterprises to gradually improve technology and production lines in the process of mineral exploration, exploitation and processing. Currently, many enterprises have applied advanced mining technologies to fully exploit minerals, creating minerals that meet market standards and are environmentally friendly. Sectors and localities have implemented and assigned officials to coordinate in the work of inspection, examination and handling of violations of mineral law enforcement in the province...

However, state management of the mineral sector still has shortcomings and limitations. Specifically, the planning of minerals in general, and the planning of minerals for common construction materials in particular in the province, is still not consistent with the strategy and planning of local socio-economic development, and there is no calculation or forecast of the demand for mineral materials. Some licensed mining sites are still close to residential areas and traffic routes; illegal mining still occurs in some localities; mineral mining activities still affect daily life, pollute the environment, degrade infrastructure, and cause traffic insecurity, etc.

The process of granting mineral exploitation licenses according to the law on minerals still has many procedures. There is still a situation of tax loss in mineral exploitation and business activities. Many enterprises still owe original taxes, leading to an increasing amount of late payment. The current tax calculation is still based on the output that enterprises self-declared, affecting the province's budget revenue. There are a number of mines that have been licensed but have many problems in not being able to hand over land for exploitation, so they cannot carry out operations, while every year they still have to notify the amount of money for granting mineral exploitation rights according to regulations, leading to a situation where enterprises owe money for granting mineral exploitation rights (by August 31, 2022, the amount of money owed for granting mineral exploitation rights is over 50.5 billion VND).

Some enterprises have not strictly complied with legal regulations on labor safety, hygiene, and policies; have not invested in and improved working conditions; workers still have to work in conditions with many dangerous and harmful factors; in which, some mines have been exploited with incorrect designs, leading to unsafe working environments; Inspection and examination of mineral activities have not been carried out regularly and promptly; handling of violations of the law has not been strict...

The implementation of land recovery at the Van Xuan University of Technology project, which is behind schedule, is a result of the thematic supervision activities of the Provincial People's Council. In the photo: Panorama of the Van Xuan University of Technology project. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Regarding the implementation of the Resolutions of the People's Council on land recovery and land use conversion for the implementation of works and projects in the province in the period of 2016 - 2021, according to the Supervisory Delegation, the implementation was timely and in accordance with regulations. The process of reviewing and synthesizing the list of works and projects requiring land recovery and land use conversion has basically complied with regulations; the policy of land recovery and land use conversion for works and projects ensures compliance with regulations and set criteria. Thereby, it is affirmed that the Resolution issued by the Provincial People's Council has created favorable conditions for works and projects requiring land recovery and conversion of land use purposes for rice cultivation, protective forest land, and special-use forest land to be implemented, contributing to the socio-economic development of the province, increasing revenue for the budget, and improving people's lives.

However, the Supervisory Delegation found that the results of implementing the list of works, projects, recovered areas, and land use purpose changes in the Resolutions of the Provincial People's Council were low. Specifically, in the period of 2016 - 2021, the results of implementing the Resolution of the Provincial People's Council on land recovery only reached 42.25% in terms of the number of works implemented and 31% in terms of land use area; the results of implementing the Resolution of the Provincial People's Council on land use purpose change only reached 38.3% in terms of the number of works implemented, the conversion of rice land use purpose reached 36.36%; protective forest land reached 55.5%...

There are still many projects that have not been implemented, cannot be implemented, have been canceled or transferred. Surveys by the Field Supervision Team in some localities: Nghi Loc, Yen Thanh, Do Luong show that most of the land lots after auction have not been built, are still vacant, causing waste of land; the infrastructure of the land lots planned for auction is not synchronous.

The inspection and examination of the implementation of the Provincial People's Council's resolutions on land recovery and land use conversion have not received due attention and have not been carried out regularly, mainly in combination with other inspection contents on land management, carried out on a case-by-case basis or when there are complaints and petitions, or when the press reports. There are still many projects that cannot be implemented because investors do not have enough financial capacity (for non-budget projects), have not been able to arrange capital for implementation (for projects with state budget capital) or have problems with compensation and site clearance...

Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet - Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment spoke at the meeting. Photo: Nhat Lan

Accurately and accurately assess the existing problems and limitations in practice.

Listening to the draft of two reports on the results of thematic monitoring, the delegates attending the working session basically agreed. At the same time, there were many more opinions exchanged and explained to clarify the causes of the existence and limitations; there were proposals to adjust the information in the thematic monitoring report and add solutions to resolve and handle.

In particular, the delegates attending the meeting were interested in analyzing the shortcomings of the 2010 Mineral Law, which led to practical difficulties in the province. Delegates from Nghi Loc and Quy Hop districts... provided in-depth information on the shortcomings and difficulties in state management at the local level; made recommendations to the Provincial People's Council on policy issues, especially the consideration of decentralizing mineral revenue sources to localities according to the provisions of the Law.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee speaking at the meeting. Photo: Nhat Lan

At the meeting, Comrade Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also explained some contents presented by the two Supervisory Delegations of the Provincial People's Council. Comrade Nguyen Van De said that the state management of the mineral sector and the implementation of the Resolutions of the Provincial People's Council on land recovery and land use conversion for the implementation of works and projects in the province, although having achieved specific results; still have shortcomings and limitations. And the shortcomings and limitations have basically been pointed out by the two Supervisory Delegations of the Provincial People's Council. "The Provincial People's Committee accepts the contents raised by the two thematic Supervisory Delegations of the Provincial People's Council..." - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De emphasized.

Following the speech of the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, there were 5 more comments from representatives of the leaders of the specialized committees of the Provincial People's Council, members of the two thematic monitoring delegations. Of particular interest were the comments requesting analysis and clarification of the causes and solutions to the subsidence incident in Chau Hong commune, etc.; shortcomings in the Do Luong Cement expansion project; and comments on solutions to control existing shortcomings and shortcomings in mineral exploitation activities.

Ms. Lo Thi Kim Ngan - Head of the Ethnic Affairs Committee of the Provincial People's Council is concerned about the subsidence problem in Chau Hong commune, Quy Hop district. Photo: Nhat Lan

The opinions from the representatives of the specialized committees were all explained by the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De to the leaders of the relevant departments and districts. As for the subsidence incident in Chau Hong commune, according to the report of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quy Hop district, up to now, the enterprise has overcome the consequences for the people, at the same time, also followed the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, completely stopping exploitation. Regarding the cause of the subsidence, it still needs more time for the scientific agency to analyze, clarify and respond.

Speaking at the working session, Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, highly appreciated the coordination of the Provincial People's Committee, Departments, branches, units and related districts during the time the two Thematic Supervision Delegations of the Provincial People's Council performed their tasks; at the same time, acknowledged the explanations of the members attending the working session. Summarizing the remaining shortcomings and limitations in the state management of the mineral sector and the implementation of the Resolutions of the Provincial People's Council on land recovery and conversion of land use purposes to implement works and projects in the province, Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh continued to dissect and clarify in more detail; at the same time, there were specific analyses of the recommendations and proposals of local authorities, thereby requesting the Provincial People's Committee and related Departments and branches to focus on consideration.

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council concluded the working session. Photo: Nhat Lan

The Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council emphasized that the implementation of thematic supervisions is to accurately and accurately assess the existing problems and limitations in practice, thereby helping the Provincial People's Committee and relevant state agencies to find solutions to remove them and better perform their tasks to promote the socio-economic development of the province. "After this meeting, the two Supervision Delegations are requested to complete the content of the report and submit it to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council at the regular monthly meeting, so that the Standing Committee can listen and give comments before submitting it to the regular meeting in early December to issue a Resolution on these two contents" - Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council concluded the meeting.